Nationwide and Trucks set 2013 calendars

29 November 2012

NASCAR has confirmed the schedules for next year's Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series seasons, with the Nationwide cars set to race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the first time, and Trucks set for a dirt track outing at Eldora Speedway.

The addition of 2.4-mile, 15-turn road course in Lexington, Ohio replaces Nationwide's previous outing to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Canada, which removed itself from the series after being denied an accompanying Sprint Cup race to make the event economically viable.

NASCAR will go to Mid-Ohio on August 17, which may be a concern for the IZOD IndyCar Series which is scheduled to run its own championship round at that venue just two weeks before. The Proximity of a rival event at the same facility may affect ticket sales for the struggling open-wheel series.

Nationwide will have three road course races in its 33-race season in 2013, with Road America (June 22) and Watkins Glen (August 10) also confirmed for return appearances in 2013. The season will begin in Daytona on February 23 and stage its finale at Homestead-Miami on November 16.

The Camping World Truck Series sees two new venues added to its 22-race line-up, with the Tony Stewart-owned Eldora Speedway becoming the series' first dirt track event on July 24 and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park becoming the series' first road course event since 2000, and its first race outside the US.

The 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course in Bowmanville, Ontario will host its first championship event on September 1 and means that at least one of NASCAR's three national level series will travel across the border to Canada after the loss of the Nationwide Montreal event.

"It's very important that we maintain our national series presence in Canada," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. "The Canadian fan base is so passionate and has a high regard for NASCAR."

In order to keep the series at 22 races, the series will drop one of the two current rounds at Kentucky and will no longer visit Atlanta in 2013.

The Camping World Truck Series also announced that it was dropping the minimum age limit for drivers from 18 to 16 on tracks measuring 1.1 miles in length or less.